Machine for washing bottles



W. B. WHITE &-J. A. WHITPORD. MACHINE FOR WASHING BOTTLES No. 20,113.Patented Apr. 27, 1858.

fag 7% UNITED STATES PATENT oEErcE.

W. B. WHITE AND JOHN A. VVHITFORD, OF SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK.

MACHINE FOR WASHING BOTTLES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,113, dated April 2 7, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, VILLIAM B. )VHITE and JOHN A. VVHITEORD, ofSaratoga Springs, in the county of Saratoga, in the State of New York,have invented a new and Improved Machine for Washing Bottles; and we dohereby declare that the following is a full and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to theletters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of our invent-ion consists in the mechanical devices, and thearrangement thereof, hereinafter described, whereby the bottle to bewashed is rotated in one direction, while the brush, chain or othercontrivance for cleanisng the inside, inner neck and bottom thereof,shall be rotated the other; there being the at the same time, a jet orjets of water, thrown, during the rotation of the bottle, both on theinside and outside of the same; while external brushes are so arrangedas to scrape the neck, sides, and outer bottom of the bottle, as thesame revolves.

To enable others skilled in the art, to make and use our invention, weproceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to thedrawings, for greater clearness.

In the drawings, Figure 1, represents a horizontal section, and Fig. 2,a side elevation of our device, the inclosing boX being removed.

The like letters in all the drawings refer to like parts.

A, A, A, (Fig. 1,) is the box or frame in which the machine is placed,or hung. A main, horizontal hollow spindle, or shaft, B, B, B, traversesthe, same lengthwise. On this spindle or shaft, are two pulleys D, D,permanently connected with collars 3, 3, and all, when out of gear,revolving freely on the spindle- The collar 3, does not revolve directlyon the spindle; but has between it and the spindle, another tubularcollar F, which also rotates freely on the spindle. This tubular collaris seen in the dotted lines (Fig. 1.) and has on it the counterpart of aratchetclutch, seen in connection at E. The other part of this clutch ison the outer collar 3. A similar ratchet clutch is seen at E, to connectthe pulley D and its collar, 3, with the main shaft. The pulleys mustalways rotate in opposite directions; so that when the clutches are ingear, the main spindle revolves in one direction, while the collar, 3,with all its attachments, revolves in the other.

The tubular collar, F, is firmly connected with the radial arms G, G,and the spring rods H, H, which being hinged at, 6, when the arms G,Gare moved toward the bottle, will grip the neck thereof by the grippersI, I, and cause the bottle to revolve with the tube F, and the pulley D.Through small blocks on the backs of rods H, H, may be inserted setscrews, 5, 5, to increase or diminish, the grip on the bottle neck.

Into the bottle end of the main shaft, B, B, B, a further perforatedhollow spindle, K, is screwed, or otherwise fastened; this additionalspindle being designed to go inside the bottle, and to rotate a chain,brush, or other device for scraping and cleansing the interior thereof.Into the end of this additional spindle, is inserted a small beam, M,kept out by a spiral spring N. To this beam is hinged a small bar, L, asseen in Fig. 1. The hinge joint between them, has on it a slight cam, orother like device, so that the tendency of the bar, L, is either to be astraight extension of M, or to remain nearly at right angles with it.The spiral spring on beam M is to enable it to adjust itself todifferent depths of bottles. The hinged bar, L, may have a brush on itsside to sweep the bottom of the bottle; and may be straightercurvilinear to fit bottoms of diiferent shapes. To the end of it may beattached achain, 0

also connected with the spindle at, P. Thus,

while the brush on the bar, L, sweeps the internal surface of the bottomof the bottle, the chain sweeps its interior side and neck; while water,flowing through the whole length of the main spindle, enters the bottlethrough small holes in the side of that part of it which goes inside thebottle.

Firmly attached to the collar around the main spindle at, Q, are twovertical arms, R, and R (Fig. 2) the one above, and the other below, thespindle. The lower one, R, is firmly attached to the rod, T, whichenters the center of the horizontal cross bar, S, S, (Fig. 1). Thiscross bar is fastened to two other longitudinal bars, U, U, (Fig. 1)parallel to the rod, T, and having the same motion. These longitudinalbars, U, U, extend beyond the bottom of the bottle, and are thereconnected, at right angles, with uprights V, V, the upper ends of whichpass through holes in the ends of short hori zontal bars, Y, Y. Theother ends of the bars Y, Y, are hinged to crooked spring bars W, VV,VV,W, in the manner displayed in the drawings (see Fig. 1). Thus, it willbe seen, that when the main spindle is moved toward the bottle, itcarries in the same direction, the horizontal bars U, U, which, by theirconnections at the end, bring the inner extremities of the spring barsW, W, W, N, up against the bottom of the bottle, as seen in Fig. 1. Onthe inner ends of these bars, W, W, IV, V], may be placed brushes, toscrape the bottom of the bottle, as it revolves.

The -upper vertical arm, R, performs an-- other function. It isconnected with a horizontal cross rod, X, (Fig. 1) the end of which isattached to the longitudinal rod, 9, which works a valve or faucet, Z,in the water pipe, at. This water pipe extends longitudinally throughthe whole machine; and in the side of that portion of it which laysopposite the bottle, are small holes, through which the water issquirted on to the outside of the bottle when revolving. As soon as themachinery is thrown out of gear, the valve or faucet closes. Thehorizontal cross rod, X, does not clutch the bar, 9, but slides on thesame between shoulders, 2', and j; as, in actual use, the motion of thebar, X, is much greater than would be suflicient to turn the faucet.

To the upper end of the bar, R, is also attached a longitudinal slidingtube, 7), (Fig. '2) working on a guide rod, 6, on which is a verticalfinger pin, d, (Fig. 2). This pin has on it a' spring catch, 2,, (Fig.2') to hold the machine in gear, while the bottle is being washed. Themachine is thrown in and out of gear by the movement of this pin.

On the lower longitudinal rods U, U, are spiral springs to cast the mainspindle out of and away from, the bottle as soon as the catch, t, isreleased. Auxiliary springs or weights may also be used to carry themain spindle so far back as to take the part, K, entirely out of thebottle.

The operation of the machine may be described as follows: the pulleys,D, D are constantly in motion, and when out of gear, revolve freely,without moving anything but the collars with which they are connected.To throw the machine in gear, the operator, (after having placed thebottle in its proper socket; see Fig. 5) moves the finger pin, d, towardthe bottle, until the catch, 2?, is fast. By this movement, the spindleend, K, is passed into the bottle, and the hinge bar, L, strikingagainst the bottom, is turned at right angles, in the position shown inFig. 1; also, the clutches E and E, come together, so that the mainspindle, with all the parts inside the bottle move in one direction,while the bottle moves in the other, also, the bars W, W, W, W, withtheir brushes are turned up against the bottom of the bottle; also, thewater, by the faucet, Z, is

turned upon the bottle, inside and out. On the outside of the bottle,brushes not indicated in the drawings, may press against it, as itrevolves. Thus it will occur, that, while the bottle revolves; waterwill flow into and upon it, and it will be scraped and cleansed insideand out. As soon as the catch, 6, is released by the finger of theoperator, the pin, d, the main spindle and all parts connected with itfly away from the bottle, closing the faucet, drawing the spindle out ofthe bottle and straightening out the bar, L; loosening the clutches Eand E so as to stop the revolutions of the spindle and the bottle; andopening the grippers I, I, so that the bottle can be removed. A valve(not indicated) may also be made to regulate the fiow of water throughthe main spindle. As this spindle moves to the right and left adistanceof six, eight, or ten inches, according to the length of thebottle, it is apparent that the water pipe which feeds it at the endmust not be fixed. A flexible rubber or gutta percha tube attached tothe end overcomes this diificulty.

In the drawings, Fig. 3 isan end view of the apparatus, with the bottlein its place.

stationary inside or outside brushes, as that 7 device has been usedbefore and is well known. Nor do we claim any particular form orarrangement of brushes: But

What we do claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. The series of devices described, including the pulleys D, and D, theclutches E, E, the collar F, the radial arms G, G, the springs H, H, andthe grippers I, I, with the parts connected, constructed and operatingsubstantially as set forth, whereby the bottle is rotated in onedirection, while the chain or brush or other device for cleansing theinside of the bottle, is rotated in the other, for the purposes setforth.

2. We also claim the use of a cam (like that of a pocket knife blade) onthe hinged end of the rod, I, whereby the same tends to remain in a linecontinuous with the main spindle, or at right angles, or any other givenangle, thereto.

3. We also claim the use of the spring, N, on the bar M, so as to adaptthe same to different depths of bottles.

W. B. WHITE.

JOHN A. WHITFORD.

Witnesses:

